Ted Hunt began the project Sense of Time as self-initiated design research into the breadth of perspectives of time perception in 2015 following a conversation regarding the differing visual representation systems in perspectives of space with his course Professor at the Royal College of Art, Anthony Dunne. This work was then revisited in 2017 and migrated from illustrative diagrams into the universally recognised format of watch face designs. These designs formed the basis of a series of conversations between Ted Hunt and Professor Matthew Soteriou, of King's College London, which immediately uncovered overlaps between shared interests in the design of time and the philosophy of time.
Each design sought to highlight values that we place on time and uncover interdependencies between the way we represent time and occupy time, in order to provoke reflection on what values might be lost, hidden, or excluded when we adopt alternative perspectives on time. With these visual representations of our individual and collective values brought into clear focus, the project aimed to create new opportunities for its audience to consider and question how our values are influenced by, and reflected in, the temporal perspectives we choose to adopt, including the means we adopt to measure time and coordinate and project our agency across time.
Our desire to understand time is ancient. What remains urgent is the question of the practical implications of the views on time that we choose to adopt. Reflecting on this question, through new perspectives and employing differing mindsets, is now crucial if we are to address some of humankind’s most pressing issues. Indeed, many of our most critical challenges are now understood as being "only a matter of time" and solutions are judged by their ability to "stand the test of time".
Sense of Time was realised as ten new prototype watch faces presenting a broad variety of alternative and augmented notions of time and temporal perception. The project made tangible a series of experimental and alternative models in time measurement for both expert and popular consideration and contemplation.
A Sense of Time booklet was produced to accompany the 10 watch prototypes.
Download a copy here
You can also watch a film and listen to a podcast about the project here
Find out more about the project on the Sense of Time website
Professor Matthew Soteriou - academic lead
Matthew Soteriou is a Professor in Philosophy of Mind in the Department of Philosophy, King’s College London. Building on previous published work on temporal representation in perception, memory, imagination, and dream, Matthew is currently conducting research on the ‘experienced present’ and its relation to our awareness of the passage of time. A key aim of this research is to identify asymmetries in our psychological orientation to what falls on either side of the boundaries the experienced present. These asymmetries towards past and future constitute the tensed temporal perspective that provides for a sense in which the past is fixed, and the future is open; but they can also play a role in structuring practical deliberation in more subtle ways. This research explores the respects in which our tensed temporal perspective on reality both depends upon, and is affected by, the ways in which we exercise and project our agency across time.
Ted Hunt - artistic lead
Ted Hunt is an independent speculative / discursive / critical designer living and working in London and currently a resident of Somerset House Studios. His work explores the liminal spaces between our ancient behaviourally driven selves and modern technologically driven selves. He continually explores non-linear / alternative paradigms and examines the boundaries between subjective, objective and inter-subjective interpretations and perspectives. Graduating from the Royal College of Art in 2016, under Professor Anthony Dunne, he is a fellow of Royal Society of Arts and his work has been commissioned by, and shown at; Artangel / ICA / Southbank Centre / Sir John Soane's Museum / Dulwich Picture Gallery / Gas Works / Royal College of Art / and internationally by Rijksmuseum Amsterdam / National Gallery of Victoria / Art Gallery of Ontario / Design Museum Gent / Vitra Design Museum / MAK Vienna / Vienna Biennale 2017.